ARG! I've been tagged

Well a couple of days ago, the lovely Heather from Slightly Dramatic tagged me! (not to be confused with my Heather from As the Coffee Brews, which is finally being updated again. I'm pretty sure she will have something to say tomorrow. I promise) Here are the basic rules:

A). Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog...
B). Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself...
C). Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs...
D). Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
**You get it?? --- You got it?? --- [GOOD] --- So here goes:*

1. Believe it or not, I never tasted a drop of alcohol until my 23rd birthday. Not for any particular reason, I just never wanted to. I blame my friend Travis for ruining me. Apparently that night I called him and also blamed society for making me drunk. That damn society.

1b. OK, so that first one was sort of a lie. I did ingest some alcohol in high school, but not the normal, fun kind. For about a week, a friend of mine and I thought we'd be cool if we DRANK Listerine. Not for the alcohol or anything, but mainly because it told us not to, and we thought we'd be tough for doing it. Instead, we were just really, really stupid. And I know if I didn't list this here, KP would call me on it.

2. The most-prized items of sports memorabilia in my collection are (in no particular order): a personalized Roger Craig autographed 5X7 photo saying "To Chris, Be Good," (he's from Davenport, IA, and my uncle knew him and his mom, I've met him a couple times), an autographed Willie Mays baseball card, and a Buck O'Neil autographed baseball.

3. I have a strong desire to someday live in Boise, Idaho.

4. One of (if not THE) earliest memory that I have is from when I was about 3-years-old, being on the beach in Oregon, and getting knocked over by a wave. I can remember crying "The ocean got me!" to my mom, and seeing lots of gulls.

5. My favorite actress of all-time is probably Audrey Hepburn. There was a while there when I had a HUGE crush on her. It was kind of weird.

6. The reason I started playing the saxophone was Lisa Simpson.

7. The first movie that I can remember seeing was a showing of The Jungle Book at a drive-in movie theater. Be jealous.

now, for people that I myself will tag. . .

Of course H is there
As is Lucy
And WhiskeyMarie
Next is Christina
Then Nicole
Errr. . . and anyone else that wants to. I just needed to get my ladies out there first (I feel like some sort of blog pimp now.)

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Also! Last chance to tell me you're interested in the Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange! I'll be sending out an email soon with more details, so if you want to join in, let me know!

H has a story for you

So this is kind of a cop-out for right now, but everyone should go over and read a classic Flenker story over on Random Mindless Ramblings. H tells the story pretty well, only she forgets to add that we were drinking for many reasons, one of which was my birthday. Bill had given me a baseball autographed by Buck O'Neil as a present, and I just felt obligated to return the favor in my own way. Also, I was wearing a sweater when I was out on the porch with H, and maybe socks. I'm not sure what my footwear was for the moment.

Anyways, I'm off to dinner with none other than Bill! I'm sure Haley is extremely jealous, I don't blame her. Jealous of Bill, that is. ha! I'll be back later, maybe even with another post! But for now, just check out what H has to say.

5 Burning Questions (an interview by Minty)

Well, you are now reading the blog of the newest member of the Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Hall of Fire. At the BWW in Iowa City, you become a member by downing 18 of the Blazin' Hot Sauce wings in under 5 minutes. I got it done in just over 4, which was a little disappointing to me, but I finished, and that's all that really matters. Honestly, it wasn't that hot. I went through them so fast, it didn't have that much of an affect on me. The hardest thing was actually eating the wings in the time allotted. The wings had just come out of the fryer, so they were hot to the touch, and burned my mouth just from their temperature. So now, if you're in the area, look for my picture on the wall, and I can show you my new shirt, proclaiming my accomplishment. (Naturally, I got ice cream afterwards)

Today's post is an interview of The Flenker by Minty! She posed some thought-inducing questions, which were a pleasure to answer! If anyone out in the ether wants to be interviewed by Flenker, read the directions at the bottom of the post. Without further ado, let's get Minty on Flenker.

1. What day/event would you relive/redo if you could?

If it's just one to straight-up relive and have the same experience, it would probably be the day that the Iowa Hawkeye football team destroyed Ohio State in Kinnick a few years ago. And not just because of the Hawkeye win, but it was just overall a great fall day. The weather was almost perfect for me, I watched the game in Muscatine, sat in the hot tub, and had an excellent night back in Iowa City. All around, a good time.

As for one that I would like to redo, it gets a little trickier. There are a lot of things that I've been reflecting back on, things I think I should've handled differently. At first I thought I would redo my whole going to Iowa State University, but then I wouldn't know some of my best friends, including Bill, Heinricy, Charczuk, Jim, and others. I also, in turn, wouldn't know Haley, and may not have ended up in this here blogosphere. And, my life would've been totally different, I wouldn't have had many of the experiences that I've lived. That's not to say that one way is better than the other, I can't say that. But I don't regret what I've done and where I've been in that regard. I think the main events in my life that I would like to redo are the social events, when I've just been awkward and all-in-all a party pooper. I wish I would've been more supportive of going to different parties. And I wish I wouldn't let a negative attitude towards things (movies, bands, people, etc.) get me in such a bad mood, to the point where I can't enjoy anything, and I bring the other people around me down as well. I can think of a few instances of this happening in the past few months, and I apologize for all of them.

Also, I wish I would have gone to see the Apples in Stereo when they were in town a few months ago.

2. Is there a word that you can't spell correctly no matter how many times you try?

I know there are some, I just can't think of any right now. I'm usually a very good speller, and good grammatically, but every now and then my fingers don't want to work properly. Usually, I'll have troubles with words ending with an "-ly", not knowing if it is"-ally" or "-ely" or just simply "-ly." One of my favorite words to spell, conversely (see, I had to look that one up), is "awkward." Not only because it fits me so well, but I really like the w's being that close together.

3. You have to eat from one fine fast food establishment for every meal for the rest of your life; which is it and why?

Well, if Oasis counts, I would go there and eat falafel every day and be happy. I eat there almost every day as it is, so it wouldn't be too much of a change. But if I have to pick a more "traditional" fast food joint, I'll go with Wendy's. I could survive on Jr Bacon Cheeseburgers, fries, and a Frosty until the end of my days. (Of course, the fries would be dipped in the Frosty)

4. If you were given the chance, what famous person (dead or alive) would you want to interview you?

This is kind of a tough one for me, there are so many musicians and writers that I'd would love to find out what sort of questions they would ask of me, and how the conversation would go. But I think I'd have to go with Buck O'Neil. When he died last October, I literally cried, even though he had reached the age of 94, and had been in fairly poor health. As I've noted many times before, he's one of my heroes, and would love to have him pick my brain, and, even if he would be the one asking the questions, I would learn so much about baseball, and probably a lot about life. Of course, we'd have to toss a ball around, and catch a ballgame in Kansas City. Then we'd get some barbecue and have some iced tea.

5. Which Wilco song is your favorite from a lyrical standpoint? Which is your favorite from a musical standpoint?

Another excellent question, it's very hard to choose just one. . . Lyrically, "Pieholden Suite" is probably my favorite, while "Forget the Flowers" might be my favorite musically. Now if you ask me this again tomorrow, you may get two different answers. But I feel that both of these are solid songs.

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Now everyone else plays along! You may have seen this done elsewhere, but now it's your turn. Just follow these simple rules.

1. Leave me a comment on this post saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

60 years ago today, Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers for opening day, marking the first time an African-American played in the modern era of Major League Baseball. I really don't know why he and Buck O'Neil have had such a huge influence on my life; it's not like I can really relate to them that well, being some white boy from Iowa, but they're still heroes to me. Maybe it's just because they're were such big figures in the history of baseball, and therefore are big figures to me. Robinson's former team, the Dodgers, are playing in the Sunday Night game on ESPN, so I've been watching that, listening to Jackie's beautiful wife Rachel tell stories and cheer for the Dodgers in the booth. For some reason, baseball stuff can make me tear up, and tonight was no exception. It's been just a great ceremony and game.

This weekend was fun, my visitors Bill and Haley made it safely and in time for the Hawkeye's spring practice. The weather was almost perfect, only a light sweatshirt was needed when the sun was out and wind died down. The practice went about how I expected, a tense moment occurred when Dominique Douglas (Doug E Fresh or DD from now on in this blog) started limping around, but he came back a little later and made a few outstanding catches. I liked watching Arvell Nelson, as he has become my favorite quarterback, but I doubt he'll get a whole lot of playing time right away, behind Jake Christensen. We shall see what happens, though. Doug E is still my favorite Hawkeye. Todd Lickliter made an appearance and received a very nice standing ovation from the 20,000 fans that showed up to watch a practice.

After the game I introduced my guests to falafel, which was a great success. I was slightly nervous about this, since I had been building it up to them so much, but I don't think they were let down. It was a good time. Thanks Oasis! We then went to a local used bookstore, where I picked up a couple more books that I probably shouldn't have. I got Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, The Metamorphosis (and Other Stories) by Franz Kafka, and An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray. I got that last one because the blurbs on the cover compared Murray to Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers, and because the cover reminded me of those "Old Spice" commercials with Bruce Campbell. It seems to have been well-liked by critics, so hopefully it'll be a good find. If not, I only paid half-price for it at a used place, so no big loss.

After the book store, we headed down to the Riverside Casino, because Haley really wanted to see it. And who am I to keep someone from new experiences? It turns out I should've kept her from this one, as I got my ass handed to me by a Walt Disney lookalike at the Blackjack table. With spirits and funds low, we decided to head to Buffalo Wild Wings for some food. I was tempted to try for the "Wall of Flame" by eating 18 of the Blazin' Hot wings in 5 minutes, but didn't really feel like spending that much money on the wings. I did sample the sauce, though, and am confident that I can do this. So sometime in the near future, a Polaroid of The Flenker will be on display. (The sauce is hot, I'll give them that. But not debilitating-ly so. And if my little brother can do it twice, that means it's not going to be a problem for me. The only problems I would have [and did last night] is going to the bathroom with the burning sauce on my hands. Not good times.)

We ended the night at BoJames, had a few drinks and a rather enjoyable time, stumbling (literally for H) home and getting to sleep. The morning brought us breakfast at the Hamburg Inn, and then a rushed goodbye as I was heading for work. More time would've been nice, but a great weekend either way.

Well, I'd love to stay and write more, but I'm dog/house sitting for some friends, and I don't want to leave Tucker by himself for too much longer. He's a sweet dog, a miniature dachshund, we've been hanging out most of the night, just laying around and watching baseball. But there's no internet there, and I needed to grab some things from home anyways, so I figured I'd drop a quick note on this here blog of mine. And I would like to welcome Haley's Dad to the scene, I hope he enjoys everything around. Anyone who is a Hawkeye fan is a friend of mine!

Buck O'Neil

Off to the right, in my profile, the last line says that Buck O'Neil is my hero. I don't mean he's a hero like George Brett is my hero, or Joe Montana or Jerry Rice are heroes to me, or even Hayden Fry or Chuck Long. Buck is a person that I admire not because of his affiliations as a coach/scout with the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals, or that he played some baseball in Kansas City, although those are both pluses in my mind. It's more of what he did, how he carried himself outside of baseball that I revere, and how he always had a positive outlook on life, despite of all the injustices and prejudices he experienced, and always had a great sense of humor.

If anyone reading this doesn't know, Buck O'Neil played first base for the Negro League's Kansas City Monarchs for much of his playing career, before becoming their manager, and eventually the first black coach in Major League Baseball with the Cubs. He was a member of the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee for nearly 20 years, and was instrumental in getting Negro League players recognition in Cooperstown. (His speech at the induction of the Negro League players last summer shows just how affable he was, how much love he had and how funny he could be.) He was also the driving force behind the formation of the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, MO.

I really wish I could've had the opportunity to meet him, to talk baseball with him, and just listen to the stories that he had to tell. If you ever get the chance, read his autobiography I Was Right on Time. I just finished it up a couple of hours ago, after starting it last night. It's a fairly easy read, it just feels like you're listening to your grandpa tell you stories. I've always heard that Buck was a friend to everyone that he met, and after reading this, I could see why.

When I first heard that he passed away in October of 2006, tears welled up in my eyes. Even though I had never met him, his life had such an affect on me that I was deeply saddened. Reading the stories from his funeral and visitation in the NLBM, where I had been just weeks before, made me appreciate just how influential Buck was on everyone that he met. This article from espn, especially, got to me, pretty much made me a blubbering mess for a night. I was almost in the same state when I dug into the birthday gift bag that Bill had put together for me (with some help from Haley) this past January, and found an amazing picture of Buck in a wonderful frame. But when I was told to dig deeper, my eyes were tearing up again when I discovered a baseball autographed by Buck O'Neil. It was one of the best birthday gifts I've ever received.

A couple last things before I hit the hay. I don't know if this post really came together like I was hoping it would, but that's what I get for writing it at 2:30 in the morning... Also, here are a few video clips that I had found with Buck in them, one from Ken Burns' Baseball documentary, with Buck singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," one with Buck singing a song that he always uses to close out speeches, and one of a grade school class doing a pretty good summary of his autobiography (it's cute, and shows how active and spry Buck could be in his 90's.)

The greatest thing in all my life is loving you